I came across an article a while back from
ChurchMarketingSucks.com based on a poll that asked the question, “What is your
number one church marketing fear?” The idea behind the poll is that many
churches do not market themselves (or do very little marketing) because the
church is afraid. Maybe it’s a fear that the marketing will not be any good,
maybe it’s a fear that the church will become dependant on marketing instead of
spiritual growth. Are you being controlled by fear?
You can read the
article on the churchmarketingsucks.com website. It was posted in March of
2009.
Are you or is your church afraid to market itself? If so what
specifically is that you’re afraid of? Some fears may be valid in the sense that
what you fear is something to be aware of and avoid. For example, you may fear
that your church will become obsessed with the marketing and loose focus on
Christ. Certainly, that is not something you want, but does that mean that you
avoid church marketing? If I drive my car to the store, I could get into an
accident. I could let that fear prevent me from driving my car, or I could let
that fear motivate me to be as safe a driver as I can. I tend to see things from
the second approach. I’d rather get the benefits of driving a car while making
sure I avoid getting into an accident.
There was a post I found
particularly interesting that I found in the comments of the
churchmarketingsucks article:
I attended seminary and majored in
homiletics (public speaking) to prepare myself to be a pastor. Did I bypass God?
Does anyone worry that I’ll be tacky and gimmicky because I did? If it’s okay to
use speaking training, isn’t it also okay to use marketing training? Why must
Christians bypass known skills and experience to truly lead others to
God?
Sometimes Christians fear that using learned skills will somehow
lessen the work of God. I would argue that God gave us the ability to learn and
that we shouldn’t be afraid to learn useful skills and use them in our service
of Him.
If you’ve been trying to get your church to start being more
intentional about marketing, but seem to run into road block after road block,
it may very well be that some of the people in your church fear something about
church marketing. Knowing what that fear is may help you to be able to address
it.
If there is a fear of the gimmicky approach to marketing, perhaps you
can start with a marketing strategy that is less prone to issues, like Christian
search engine optimization. Once you’ve convinced the congregation on one
approach to church marketing, you may find that the next step is a little
easier.
What do you think? Is there fear in your church of church
marketing? What fears do the people in your church have? Do you think these
fears are legitimate and should they prevent a church from marketing itself?
